Bechan Cave is a single-room

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

rock shelter A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alway ...

located at an elevation of along Bowns Canyon Creek, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the Glen Canyon segment of the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

, in Kane County in southeastern

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

in the United States. The cave is roughly wide, high and deep. It has a single entrance that faces southwest and is well-lit during the daytime. The cave holds alluvial deposits containing the remains of Pleistocene megafauna, including

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...

ground sloth Ground sloths are a diverse group of extinct sloths in the mammalian superorder Xenarthra. The term is used to refer to all extinct sloths because of the large size of the earliest forms discovered, compared to existing tree sloths. The Caribbe ...

s, and even-toed ungulates.

Archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

of the site in 1983 and 1984 by

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

s Larry Agenboard and Jim Mead unearthed animal bones, dung, hair, and teeth dating from 11,555 BCE to 9720 BCE, underneath "a few feet" of cave fill, consisting of ceiling

spall Spall are fragments of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ball ...

and wind-blown sand, containing evidence of

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

habitation from the Archaic period to the

Basketmaker culture The Basketmaker culture of the pre-Ancestral Puebloans began about 1500 BC and continued until about AD 750 with the beginning of the Pueblo I Era. The prehistoric American southwestern culture was named "Basketmaker" for the large number of b ...

and possibly even by

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

or Paiute. Among the items unearthed were large dung boluses, similar in size to the dung of the African elephant, containing the stems of

graminoid In botany and ecology, graminoid refers to a herbaceous plant with a grass-like morphology, i.e. elongated culms with long, blade-like leaves. They are contrasted to forbs, herbaceous plants without grass-like features. The plants most ofte ...

s and sedge ('' Carex''). The cave is also one of at least seventeen sites on the

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area of ...

where Archaic-era Southwestern sandals have been discovered. The cave's name derives from a Navajo word meaning "big dung" or "big feces". The well-preserved dung layer was deposited over approximately 1,000 years by multiple animal species during a period characterized by the proliferation of

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

and the decline of

blue spruce The blue spruce (''Picea pungens''), also commonly known as green spruce, Colorado spruce, or Colorado blue spruce, is a species of spruce tree. It is native to North America, and is found in USDA growing zones 1 through 7. It is found naturall ...

and

water birch ''Betula occidentalis'', the water birch or red birch, is a species of birch native to western North America, in Canada from Yukon east to Northwestern Ontario and southwards, and in the United States from eastern Washington east to western Nort ...

. The organic deposit consists primarily of Columbian mammoth (''M. columbi'') dung but also includes dung belonging to

shrub-ox The shrub-ox (''Euceratherium collinum'') is an extinct genus and species of ovibovine caprine native to North America along with '' Bootherium'' (''Bootherium bombifrons'') and Soergel's ox (''Soergelia mayfieldi''). Descriptions ''Eucer ...

en (''E. collinum''),

Shasta ground sloth ''Nothrotheriops'' is a genus of Pleistocene ground sloth found in North America, from what is now central Mexico to the southern United States. This genus of bear-sized xenarthran was related to the much larger, and far more famous ''Megatherium ...

s (''N. shastensis''),

Harrington's mountain goat Harrington's mountain goat (''Oreamnos harringtoni'') was a species of North American Goat-antelope, caprine that resided in the Southwest of the continent during the Pleistocene epoch. A relative of the modern mountain goat, which is the only ex ...

s (''O. harringtoni''),

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

(''O. canadensis''),

cottontail rabbit Cottontail rabbits are the leporid species in the genus ''Sylvilagus'', found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characteristic name. However, this ...

pack rat A pack rat or packrat, also called a woodrat or trade rat, are any species in the North and Central American rodent genus ''Neotoma''. Pack rats have a rat-like appearance, with long tails, large ears, and large, black eyes. Pack rats are notice ...

s, and possibly equines. With a thickness ranging between , an area of more than , and a volume of , it is the largest

coprolite A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name is de ...

deposit in North America. Other macrofossils discovered in Bechan Cave include teeth and a bone, a "

metapodial Metapodials are long bones of the hand (metacarpals) and feet (metatarsal The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. ...

condyle", belonging to ''E. collinum''. The cave is located inside

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (shortened to Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA) is a national recreation area and conservation unit of the United States National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon i ...

and, though it is rarely visited, is accessible on foot from Bowns Canyon. The round-trip hike between Bowns Canyon, which can be reached from

Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum ...

by boat, and Bechan Cave is considered moderately difficult.

References

External links

42KA2546 (Bechan Cave)
at the ''Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database''
Photographs of Bowns Canyon (including Bechan Cave)
at Backcountry Post {{authority control Caves of Utah Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Landforms of Kane County, Utah Rock shelters in the United States

See also

References

External links